Teacher Retention

Researchers approaching the study of teacher retention using a cost-benefit theoretical framework from the field of economics believe teachers make choices to stay in their current positions, migrate to new positions in different schools either within or across districts, or leave the profession altogether by weighing opportunity costs. These researchers envision teachers comparing the costs, both overt (salary and benefits) and hidden (working conditions, family ties to the community, etc.), with the benefits of staying in their current positions (Grissom, 2010). When costs outweigh benefits, teachers choose to migrate to new positions or leave the profession. Push and pull factors provide a more apt theoretical framework for explaining

Push and pull factors are created over time and reflect the social and cultural milieu and history of a building. Dunn (2015) explained this framework is largely absent in the research of teacher retention because it is a new way to approach the problem. Notably, the term push, as defined in this study, appeared in a recent publication by Richard Ingersoll (2016), Do Accountability Policies Push Teachers Out, which may mean the terms push and pull will begin to appear more frequently in the discussion of how working conditions influence attrition, migration, and

Ingersoll’s (2001) research, in which he examined the impact of workplace conditions on teacher migration and attrition, revealed retirement numbers could not account for the increase in demand for teachers (neither was it the student growth – find that reference). This increase in turnover, Ingersoll (2001) argued, was due to teachers’ “job dissatisfaction” (Ingersoll, 2001, p. 501) caused by building level working conditions. Ingersoll (2001) concluded from his study that an inadequate supply of teachers was not the culprit of teacher shortages; instead, an excess demand for teachers caused by school working conditions led to teacher shortages. Cameron and Lovett’s (2015) more recent study affirms the work of Ingersoll; they found the majority of teachers, 52 percent, migrated to new schools within the 3 previous years. Dissatisfaction with working conditions accounted for 33% of the migration (Cameron & Lovett, 2015). Notably, working conditions contributed to more turnover in schools than did students’ socioeconomic status (Cameron & Lovett, 2015). Luckily, with the exception of teacher salary, these conditions can be changed by building-level administrators. Salary